Cotton, Batts earn All-Big East Honors

As expected, an improved season on the floor means accolades for two of Providence's best.

Sunday, senior guard Bryce Cotton (Tucson, AZ) was named to the All-Big East First Team and senior forward Kadeem Batts (Boston, MA) was named All-Big East Second Team, in voting conducted by the league coaches. Cotton was one of three members of the 1st team to be a unanimous selection, and the coaches are not permitted to vote for their own players.

This is the second straight season for Cotton to earn 1st team honors. You want accomplishments? Here's just a snapshot of what Cotton has done, and where he stands among Friar greats. First, he joins former PC all-American Ryan Gomes (2004 and 2005) as only the second Friar ever to earn two All-Big East 1st team honors. Cotton is the 10th Friar all-time to earn a 1st team selection, and it also is the 12th time a school player has received a 1st team pick. Cotton's season has certainly been an impressive one.

Bryce Cotton

He finished the Big East season ranked second in the league in scoring, averaging 21.7 points per game overall and 23.4 ppg in Big East play.

He also leads the nation in minutes played (40.1) and ranks first in the league in assists (5.9 apg overall, 6.1 apg in Big East action).

Cotton could become the first player in the nation to average more than 40 minutes per game since Chris Quinn of Notre Dame achieved the feat in 2005-06.

Cotton has scored 20 or more points in 23 of the 31 games he has played this season, including a season-high 32 points versus St. John’s on February 4th.

Cotton has established the Providence College record for minutes played in a season at 1,244, surpassing Billy Donovan's mark.

He ranks fifth all-time in scoring at Providence (1,886 points), recently passing Joe Hassett and Marvin Barnes on the list.

Cotton is on pace to become just the fifth player from a major conference to average 20 or more points and five or more assists in a season since 2002. He is averaging 21.7 ppg and 5.9 apg. The four players that accomplished this since 2002 were Jason Williams of Duke (21.3 ppg, 5.3 apg in 2001-02); Tyrese Rice of Boston College (21.0ppg, 5.0 apg in 2007-08); Evan Turner of Ohio State (20.4 ppg, 6.0 apg in 2009-10) and Nolan Smith of Duke (20.6 ppg, 5.1 apg in 2010-11).

Suffice to say, Bryce Cotton stands out among some impressive company.

Kadeem Batts

As for Kadeem Batts, last season he earned the Big East's Most Improved Player award, and this year claims his first All-Big East 2nd team honor. Batts has averaged 12.7 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game, and has registered nine double-doubles (17 for his career). He ranks first in the Big East Conference in offensive rebounding (3.3 rpg) this season, third in rebounding overall (8.1 rpg) and 12th in scoring (12.7 ppg). The senior forward ranks 27th all-time time in scoring at Providence with 1,252 points. Batts has also entered the record books at PC, 12th all-time at Providence in career rebounds with 761 in 188 games played.

As an additional note, local schoolboy product Andrew Chrabascz, who played at Portsmouth High School before moving onto the prep ranks and playing this season at Butler, was named to the All-Big East rookie team. Chrabascz averaged 6.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs, playing in all 30 games and moving into the starting lineup late in the season nine times. Butler finished 14-16 overall, 4-14 in conference play, and opens the Big East Tournament in Wednesday night's first round as the 9th seed against #8 Seton Hall.

Providence finished the regular season 20-11, 10-8 in Big East play (tied for 3rd with Xavier and St. John's), their first 20-win season since 2004, and will play in the next week's Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden as the #4 seed overall. 5th seeded St. John's is the quarterfinal round opponent Thursday at 2:30 pm. Pre-game on 103.7 WEEI-FM (and friars.com) begins at 2:15, with the game nationally televised on Fox Sports 1.

The Big East Player of the Year will come from the All-Big East 1st team. The conference will announce Player of the Year, Big East Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, March 12th. The announcement will be made on the first day of the tournament at 4:30 pm. The other league individual awards were announced Monday: Big East Defensive Player of the Year, Fuquan Edwin, Seton Hall; Most Improved Player, Darrun Hilliard and Daniel Ochefu (co-winners); Sixth Man Award, Davonte Gardner, Marquette; Sportsmanship Award, Chris Otule, Marquette.